This is our first year without cable or satellite teevee, so the tradition of watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on the network formally known as SciFi has come to an end. This tradition began back in 1998 or so, when we first got off dial-up Internet and switched to RoadRunner. At the time, we only had basic cable, and there was an old analog filter on the line to prevent up from getting the “good” channels. They had to take the filter off to get the Internet to work, and so we’d be forced to get all the channels (including SciFi) until they cam and replaced it with something newer.

About five years later (right around this time of year, in fact), a cable guy came and put the new filter on. Bummer. So we missed the TZ marathon that year (I promptly went to Best Buy and bought a DirecTV system (no HD and not even any local channels back then), but other than that, we’ve watched every year – until now.

Of course we can always watch them via NetFlix (or Amazon, I think) which has the added advantage of not having to deal with commercials. I think the first season is something like 15 hours, so that should be plenty for me. Last year, I didn’t even try to stay up until midnight, and I doubt I’ll do it this year, either. I guess I’m officially old.

Without Dick Clark, there’s just no incentive for me to stay up late anymore (not that I was a huge Dick Clark fan, but it was at least tradition. He was my generation’s Guy Lombardo). Ryan Seacrest just doesn’t do it for me. Or any of those new kid music guests they have on I mean, who the hell are these people? Back in my day….

Oh, that’s right, I forgot. My day is over. Let’s hope these new kids can clean up our mess.

Anyhow, I think I’ll go take a peek around the office and see if anybody else is here besides me. I kind of doubt it. If the coast looks clear, I think I’ll make a break for it.

Stay safe out there, and see ya in 2016.

Happy Christmas to everybody, if you’re into that sort of thing. It doesn’t really seem like Christmas around here, what with the lack of snow and all. Not that I’m complaining, of course. They say things will get back to normal for the new year, so there’s always that to look forward to. Personally, I’m still not feeling all that terrific, though I did manage to get through the night without having a coughing fit. My big plan today is to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special. Whatever you get up to today (I hope you at least have the day off, if nothing else), I hope you have a happy time. And get some rest – you’ll need it to hit the malls tomorrow.

Welcome to the shortest day of the year. Up here the winter solstice officially happened at about 11:50 last night, and the day today will be slightly shorter than yesterday (less than a second, in fact). And the warm weather (Santa’s gonna have to wear shorts and a t-shirt Thursday, with temperatures expected to hit 70 around here) has so far taken the sting out of the lack of daylight. Tomorrow we get 4 seconds more daylight than today. Not much, but we’ll take it.

I seem to have contracted some sort of disease. It hit me Saturday, and by Sunday I was feeling pretty awful. Even worse yesterday (which I had already luckily scheduled a vacation day for), as I spent the whole day in bed. Not sleeping, really, but just trying not to move my head. I’ve been blowing blood out of my head, and I have a nasty, painful, dry cough (also bringing up some rusty stuff). Oh, and a sore throat, of course. I feel better today, but not really all that great. At least I was able to drag myself into work.

I’m fairly used to not feeling good, but it’s pretty unusual for me to actually get sick. I really don’t like it and I hope it goes away soon, though this feels like it’s gonna be a lingerer.

Holy crap, it’s mid-December already! It feels more like mid-October to me, especially with the weather around here (and lots of other places) lately. I mean, it was 66° here yesterday, which is most decidedly not December-like. And it’s not as though yesterday was a fluke – thanks to El Niño it’s been way warmer than normal, and out current snow total stands at eight-tenths of an inch (which is close to two feet below average for this time of year). They say we may turn a bit more seasonable this weekend, but that’s not supposed to last long and they’re predicting a warm (and green) Christmas. I, for one, am definitely not complaining.

I thought it was stupid a few months ago when the Oxford Dictionaries declared this: to be the “word” of the year. That is quite simply not a “word.” It’s a picture (so I suppose it ought to be worth 1,000 words).

Now, Merriam-Webster has declared their word of the year to be “ism.” I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a word, either. From Merriam-Webster itself, the definition of “word” is:

…a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use.

While it is a sound, and it isn’t really “divisible into smaller units capable of independent use,” I don’t think you can say that it communicates a meaning on it’s own. Plus I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t count in Scrabble®. Back in my olde tyme English class days, we used to call that a “suffix.”

But at least it isn’t a picture, so there’s that.